This invention relates to an apparatus for laterally deflecting articles from a first conveyor means to a second conveyor means. Such apparatuses are, for example, a part of systems for filling liquids into containers, e.g., bottles, and serve to weed out containers that are unfit for sale, e.g., because they are imcompletely filled bottles or improperly closed.
German Patent Application No. 2,358,185 discloses a deflecting apparatus in which the articles, e.g., the bottles, are shifted from a first conveyor means to a second conveyor means by pushers traveling with said first conveyor means. The pushers are guided onto a guide path by a switch by which they are shifted transversely to the direction of conveyance. In order to prevent the articles being sorted from slipping off the pushers, the width of the latter must correspond substantially to the diameter of the articles. The articles to be sorted out must not arrive in close succession; they must be separated by suitable means, i.e., the articles must be spaced apart a certain minimum distance. The apparatus known from the reference therefore automatically requires a relatively large space which complicates, for example, the deflection of the articles to so-called rotary discs. A similar apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,247.
German Patent Application No. 2,555,192 discloses an apparatus for deflecting articles in which the conveyor means consists of individual narrow belts trained over rolls. The articles are deflected by a comb displaced upwardly (from below) between the belts. This apparatus is usable only in cases where the space between the individual articles is relatively wide, and thus has the same shortcomings as that of the above-mentioned German Patent Application No. 2,358,185.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for lateral deflection of articles from a first conveyor means to a second conveyor means which operates reliably at high speed even with articles arriving in close spatial and timed succession, and which requires only a limited floor area.
The problem is solved in that the articles to be sorted out are deflected by forming a deflecting face from deflecting segments along which the articles are guided from the first conveyor means to the second conveyor means. The deflecting segments are stationary in the direction of travel, but extensible and retractable in a direction normal thereto in a manner such that at any time only those deflecting segments are extended which are in contact with the article being deflected at a given moment. Hence, the deflecting face is assembled directly in front of the article and is disassembled again directly after passage of said article.